Day Forty-Three

Or, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Upside to a wretched case of influenza = 2.5 pounds lost and counting (see Item #56).

Day Forty-One

I tend to read several books at once, which I maintain is not nearly as weird as it sounds. I'm almost always reading at least three, six is the max, and I try to make sure I'm always reading at least one non-fiction book. To me, this makes perfect sense. I would no more read just one book at a time than I would eat only one food for every meal for a week. I think it's much more pleasant to decide if I'm in the mood for science fiction, deep thought, chick lit, or classics, and read accordingly.

In pursuit of Item #6 (read 10 books by authors who are new to me), my latest non-fiction book came to me courtesy of my friend Heather, who knows I am hoping to get more serious about running during the course of this project. The book is called "Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen" (Christopher McDougall). It was, quite frankly, astounding. The author starts with the question, "Why does my foot hurt?" and ends up running with the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico. The chronicle of his journey is inspiring, thought-provoking, and it challenged much of what I thought I knew about the human body and the art (and science) of running.

If you're a runner, go buy it now. If you're not a runner, go check it out from the public library ... and don't be too surprised if you decide to go for a run after you finish it.

Day Forty

The flu was not on my list.

Day Thirty-Four

I can now locate the African nation of Eritrea on a map of the world (Item #18). Before today, I'd have said Eritrea sounded like a made-up country name out of a fantasy novel, probably of an island that sank beneath the sea and is now populated by mermaids and fishes. I knew there were some gaps in my world geography, but they're big enough to drive trucks through! I'm sure there's some lesson here about humility ...

Day Thirty-Three

Today's work on the list involved folding a Mountain O' Laundry and watching a new-to-me movie. I actually went into the video store in search of the next disc of the last season of "24", since I was too excited about what came next to wait for it to come via Netflix. Instead, I got distracted by the rather disturbing movie title "Disfigured." I'm not quite sure what prompted me to try out an indie film I'd never heard of about a fat woman and a recovering anorexic, but I'm glad I did.

It did not have the classic Hollywood plot, in which the women bond over coffee (no cream) and take walks together, and the overweight lady loses 150 pounds "without even noticing" and the anorexic lady gets magically healthy by means of a montage of heartwarming moments of friendship and apple pie against a quirky but inspiring musical background.

At the end, Darcy is still anorexic, and Lydia is still obese. They swear at each other, argue, cry, laugh, and have deeply awkward conversations on the phone - in other words, they're far more normal than any other skinny-fat friendship combination you've ever seen on the big screen. Nobody gets married at the end. It ends on a positive note, but much is left unresolved. Also rather like real life.

Lydia really is that big, and while Darcy is not actually anorexic in real life, she is painfully thin. This gives each woman a believability that is miles from Gwyneth Paltrow and her fat suit. It occasionally makes the movie cringe-inducingly raw, but (for the viewer, at least) the reality of these characters makes it worth whatever each woman went through personally to see her ribs or belly displayed on screen.

I only hesitantly recommend it to men or to anyone who is uncomfortable with onscreen intimacy, since Lydia does have a love scene that is painfully, intensely real. But if any of my readers are women with body image issues and you don't mind seeing a little more of an actress than you'd normally see, watch this and be ready for a fairly wide range of emotional responses. I have a feeling I'll be filling in my movie title spreadsheet with a few more movies that got awards that didn't involve little gold men. This was a good one!

Favorite lines:

Darcy: You take an insecure woman and give her a nose job, a tummy tuck and a boob job, and what do you get?

Lydia: A reality show!

Darcy: An insecure woman in a mask. With scars.

Day Thirty-One

Day thirty-one! Do I get Baskin Robbins ice cream as a treat?

Oh ... probably not, huh, not if I want Item #97 (Little Black Dress) to be a reality. Bah.

I haven't added anything to the blog for the last two days because a) I've been sick and b) I haven't actually done anything productive. Well, other than play for a senior recital, which was a lot of fun, but I mean I didn't do anything from the list. Maybe I should have included "Play for ten college senior recitals" on the list so I could cross them off.

Today I went to the craft supply store and bought four "floating frames" for Item #85 (print out and frame 10 photographs). I'd take a picture, but there's a bit of wall painting that needs to be done first, so hopefully I'll have the picture up on Friday. I am extremely pleased with how they look - my dad gave me the idea since his office is decorated with his own photographs in floating frames, and I'm glad I gave it a try!

Day Twenty-Nine

I think that paperwork multiplies during the night. (Items #67, #72 and #73)